video + text + action

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter & YOU
Broadcast: Y, fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Starstruck, if you like.
When: Today.

[ a video feed flickers to life, and fights for a moment to adequately focus on its subject. peggy carter sits in the kitchen aboard the starstruck, cup of tea and her elbow and half a biscuit in her hand. dabbing at crumbs, she sets her food aside and offers the network a bright smile. ]

That message -- the ominous one, in the bizarre language? It put me in mind of the sort of cryptograms and puzzles you might see in the Sunday paper. [ her expression is cheery enough, although she's not being wholly honest about her interest in such games. she won't be the one to say the words bletchley and park.] I loved them. Them, and crosswords. I thought maybe some of you might like them, too. [ ... ] We could do a few together. I'm not saying we all join a club, exactly, but back home they were always better solved in good company.

Let's start you off with one that's easy enough. But there's no shame in needing a hint, if needed. For what it's worth, the text I'm attaching is, in its deciphered form, English -- not yet certain how the augments' translation will handle it. We'll see.

BLSTKBC YLBSFKGISRX XL QIYT SL SFVBWIKAKJR STR QKBZ VX V XSRVZU EIFELXR — V ELKBS LB OTKYT STR XLIA QVU NKM KSX KBSRAARYSIVA RUR.

[ -- and then an afterthought: ]

...By chance, has anyone been brewing their own beer?

Comments

[uprightness]

I'll take heartening over ominous any day.

[ he had a bit too much of that with a future that doesn't bode well for anyone, a rift that has finally come to pass when the memories surged in tony and now this, a message from a planet, of all things, or perhaps, the spacecraft? it's hard to say who is warning them and of what.

a butcher, the message says and he sighs as he sits down, smiles and takes a piece out of the biscuit. ]

I'm still not sure what to think of the other one.

[mucked]

Hard to know what we should make of it, [ she cautions him. ] For all we know, it's been playing for centuries. More worryingly is how some had begun to solve it.

[ she knows that mental incursions are a frequent problem in their circumstances, but she likes them less and less each time they happen. ]

[uprightness]

It was a bit strange, definitely a first.

[ and really frustrating, having found out he only really understood one word out of the entire jumble. what's really curious, as much as the how is - ]

I keep wondering who is in charge of it, the spacecraft, one of the - robots on it or the planet itself.

[ a planet sending a decoded message to those who visit it. he's getting a headache already. ]

When the message played, some people heard it in their heads, that whole place seemed to work differently than the other planets, though Loki said he could see similarities between that one and another system we visited before.

[ another first, steve rogers listening to anything loki has to say. ]

[mucked]

[ it's a first she notices, but chooses not to argue. peggy snaps the remaining half of her biscuit into quarters, and takes a delicate bite. steve is perturbed, and she's not convinced that her little cipher games will work to distract him the way they distract her. ]

Mmhm, [ she hums. ] Maybe one that we visited very early on in my stay. I don't really remember -- I was coping with...other thoughts.

[ a wag of her fingers. ] We have a lot on our plates right now.

[uprightness]

Yeah, we do.

[ it'll be pointless to deny it and so much of it seems entirely out of their control, as of late. ]

Still, we're heading somewhere new now. Maybe it'll be a better one and there's Christmas.

[ things he insists to look forward to. Where would this fleet be without these little hopes? ]

[mucked]

And with any luck, Romanoff will be restored to her usual self by then. [ peggy hasn't begrudged the little girl her paranoia and aggression -- after all, peggy knows better than some where it's founded. but it's been almost exhausting pretending to be on tenterhooks around a person she ultimately trusts, only because the girl seemed to harbour nothing for contempt for someone who couldn't play the game. ]

[uprightness]

Sooner rather than later.

[ she unsettles him. Steve doesn't know much of Natasha's life before SHIELD and seeing the girl has sent a chill up his spine. ]

Nat won't be happy, not for a while.

[ she'll hide it behind her usual composure, no doubt and still. A past she guarded so carefully has manifested before their very eyes. Natasha is one of his closest friends and her silences are always worrying. ]

I gotta find her a really good gift.

[mucked]

[ peggy is quick to shake her head. ] -- Gifts won't fix this. Just...be there for her, like you always are. I saw something akin to the conditions that girl was raised in, Steve, and there's no patching it up with flowers or chocolates or baubles.

[ it's about as frank as she's inclined to be on the topic. from the outset, it'd become obvious that peggy had known something. but the presence of the younger girl has only brought it to the forefront. ]

[uprightness]

She did a brave thing, a while back. She released information about HYDRA, uploaded it all to the internet but she had to release more than just those files. Some of the mass info she released included some bits about her past. It's all out there, at home.

[ he shakes his head. ]

Never looked at it. I never wanted to know more than what she was willing to tell.

[mucked]

[ her low whistle communicates all the awe needed -- peggy's career is well-applauded, back home, but even she would think twice before letting that information hit the media. think twice, and likely think better of it. ]

I'd be surprised if this bit ever made it onto any file. These girls seemed to be like ghosts. From what I've seen of them, Natasha is nigh singular in how far she's come.

[uprightness]

She seems to really be one of a kind in a lot of things.

[ it's said with a deep sense of fondness. Despite despairing over Nat taking the job of matchmaking onto herself both at home and here, Steve sees it as her stubbornness to see him happy. What she may not yet realize is how fiercely mutual the sentiment is. ]

[mucked]

-- She tried to take my gun. On the Iskaulit.

[ the even tone in her voice suggests she's not complaining. not really. in the girl's place, she might have done much the same. ] Nearly had it, too, had I not already realized who she was.

[ and therefore she'd expected it. ]

[uprightness]

Having failed to take it, is it safe to assumes she listens to you now? I'd try but I can't understand a word in Russian and if she speaks English, well.

[ he shakes his head. ]

She doesn't with me.

[mucked]

Oh, she speaks English. I haven't heard her use it -- but she knows how. [ peggy knew it from the moment she'd realized 'natalia' was 'natasha'. ] For the time being, I'm indulging her in Russian. It's no skin off my nose.

[ then, a little hesitantly: ] I also use it with Barnes. Sometimes, he seems to prefer it.

[uprightness]

I knew I should have focused on that one over French.

[ he jokes, if only for the sake of it, of having something to smile about ]

It's a good thing she has someone who speaks it.

[mucked]

[ coolly: ] She'll speak French. I would wager all my credits that she can speak French. Try it on her, if you like, and see where it takes you -- but be prepared for her to realize, in short time, that I'm the one who told you so.

[ she's clever. she sees the strings and the ties and the moving parts. ]

[uprightness]

She won't speak English to me even though she knows it, I'm beginning to think she might not want to in any language. She did take my jacket when I offered.

[ there's at least that. ]

[mucked]

[ a mild smile -- of course she did. she can already imagine the sort of face she'd put on to inspire such pity and kindness. ]

At this rate, you'll run out of jackets.

[uprightness]

I got some new ones.

[ he shrugs, relaxing in his seat before adding, ]

Had to whack about two hundred moles for them but it was worth it.

[mucked]

You're far too gallant for your own good, Steve. [ she's likely said it before; she's likely to say it again. ]

[uprightness]

Don't know about that.

[ he says with the same easiness, a hint of a smile sitting at the corners of his lips. ]

I did take the bigger half of that biscuit.

[mucked]

To save me from a cavity, no doubt. [ a shake of her head. it's all play. ]

[uprightness]

I guess you caught me.

[ he raises both hands, an easy surrender. evidently, dental care is a new priority on the captain america schedule. he almost tells her that he thinks there must be a captain america themed toothpaste for children but on second though, that might be too much of an ammunition at once.

eyeing her teacup, he suddenly seems to remember something. ]

Actually, I have something for you, hold on.

[ he hops out of his seat and returns a moment later. ]

call it an early Christmas present.

[ a fine time for it as any, after all. he places two boxes of Twinings earl grey in front of her. ]

[mucked]

[ -- at first, her expression is a bit miffed. something 'for her' or not, she seems not to care for his coming-and-going. but then he's back, and saying something about christmas, and she seems to lose herself in a heady moment of appreciation. there it is: two compact butter-yellow boxes. the lettering looks more modern than she's used to, but the logo is unmistakable. ]

Steve, [ she breathes. a tilt of her head and a brief grit of her teeth. it's not hard to guess: ] You won them, didn't you? On the Marsiva.

[ whack-a-mole for jackets, sure. my ass. peggy plucks up one box and examines it with a keen eye. ]

You shouldn't have.

[uprightness]

Yeah, I did.

[ while they weren't exactly what he was aiming for, he was more than a little glad to receive them. the true reason he spent so many hours in the game room lays in his pocket; a light, welcome weight of a compass he isn't used to be without. it was a relief to get it back, even though the very reason it means so much is sitting right there across the table. ]

Pinball. It was kinda fun.

[ well, during the first fifteen minutes or so. he's more than a bit happy with this. he would have wanted to get her something grander than tea but it does seem to make her happy and that's more than enough for now.

It won't do for a Christmas gift but for an early present, why not. ]

Thought you'd like them.